Curse of the Sea

by Joni Parker

  “Where did you find the crew of the HMS Camelot?”

  “Just off the coast of Seaward Isle. It crashed there. It was damaged and I could smell gasoline. Some of the other ships had more damage than the Camelot. Also, I need to explain that Seaward Isle is part of Eledon, which is the Elf World.” She drew a square on the table with her finger. “It was built on a grid with four main continents, but the part of the grid where Seaward Isle was located was too weak to support it.” She drew an X across it. Then, she drew a circle around it. “Somehow, it fell out of Eledon. The Mentors kept it attached for a thousand years using entry points, but I figured out how to fix it. Unfortunately, something happened during the repair process and these ships crashed on the island.”

  “How did you fix this island?”

  “Actually, I fixed the grid. The grid was powered with diamond crystals, but years ago, Lord Dormus took five of them, which weakened it. I found the diamonds and put them back and restored the grid to full power. Now, the island has returned and Eledon is back together again.”

  “How did these ships end up there?”

  Alex sighed. “I told you, I don’t know. They weren’t supposed to. Let me try again. Eledon’s grid is made up of entry points; this Japanese scientist I met called them wormholes. So, when Seaward Isle fell out of Eledon, the Mentors attached it, using these wormholes. When the grid was fixed and the island returned, it’s possible that some of these entry points detached and brought the ships to the island. At least that’s what I think. We may never know what really happened.”

  “No one can create a wormhole.”

  “The Mentors can.” Alex shrugged.

  “What does your organization want in exchange for the safe return of these sailors?”

  Her jaw dropped. “What?” Her eyes narrowed. “They aren’t being held for ransom. They were shipwrecked. The law of the sea requires we help them as best we can.”

  Tyler frowned. “Rubbish! You want something. Everybody does.”

  Alex scratched her head. “Don’t you know anything about the law of the sea?” She leaned back and sighed. “Are we finished? Ecstasy and I should head back to pick up another group of sailors and bring them here. Where is he, anyway?”

  He took her eating knife out of his pocket and laid it on the table. “Let’s talk about this. What did you intend to do with this knife?”

  “Eat supper. It’s an eating knife.”

  “Eating knife? No one carries them anymore. This is a dangerous weapon. What kind of steel is this?” He tapped the blade on the table and listened to the ringing sound.

  Alex shrugged and shook her head at the same time. “Probably galactic tromium. The Elves use it a lot. How do you eat supper without an eating knife? What if you have to cut something?”

  “We use a knife, but we don’t carry them with us. Who sent you here?”

  “My grandfather, Lord Odin. He’s the Tree Elf representative on the Council of Elders. And I want my knife back.”

  “I can’t release it yet. So, you’re a Tree Elf? Where are your leaves?” Tyler chuckled.

  Alex rolled her eyes. “I’m not a Tree Elf. My grandfather is. He married my grandmother a few months ago and she’s a Water Elf.” She pulled the hair back from her ears. “See the blue hair? That means I’m a Water Elf, too.”

  Tyler grinned. “Where did you learn to speak English? You sound very…American. And this costume is quite unique.”

  “This is the way we talk in Nyla. I’m a soldier at the Nyla Army Garrison where my foster father’s in charge. He’s from Texas—he told me that was in the United States of America. There are a lot of Americans at the Garrison.”

  “You didn’t mention a foster father before.” He leafed through his pad.

  “Nobody asked.”

  “What’s his full name?” He picked up his pen.

  “Able Penser. He was an Army Ranger—he was in a place called ‘Nam when he was in a storm and ended up on Seaward Isle.”

  “What year was this?” He scribbled the name on the yellow pad.

  Alex raised her eyebrows. “Um, I don’t know.” She tapped her finger on her chin. “Does ‘68 mean anything to you?”

  He jotted it down. “Why are you wearing this…costume?”

  “This is the uniform we wear at the Garrison.”

  “I see. You said there were other Americans there. Who are they?”

  Alex sighed and glanced at the ceiling. “Well, there was Captain Hamlin, Chief Edgar, Major Jonnbo…”

  “Full names.”

  “Oh boy.” She rubbed her forehead. “Captain Michael Hamlin, Chief Edgar Winters, Major Jonnbo Eliot, and…I don’t know their ranks when they were here.” She snapped her fingers. “Olivia Richards and Ebony Shorter are also American, but they’re not soldiers. Olivia was, and is, a journalist and Ebony was in a boat, I mean, yacht race that went around the world, but she didn’t make it.”

  Tyler wrote down the names on his pad of paper. He paused and tapped his pen on the table. “Now, why don’t you tell me what you were supposed to do once you got here?”

  “I was supposed to give the counter-potion to the sailors to make them large again. Then Ecstasy and I are supposed to go back and bring some more.”

  “What else were you supposed to do?”

  Alex raised her hands in the air. “That’s it. My grandfather trusted me to give the counter-potion because I did it before.”

  Tyler slid the knife back into his pocket. “Alex, I’ve been told that you’re an excellent soldier and you were trained to be a tracker and an assassin.”

  “Thank you.” Alex leaned back, accepting it as a compliment. But she bit her lip as she tried to put things together—what was he doing? He was asking her questions quickly, not giving her any time to think about her answers. She reminded herself not to admit to anything more, even to something trivial like being a tracker. It was too late for that.

  “I assume that means that you have a mission to accomplish.” Tyler pressed his lips together. “If you weren’t sent here to demand a ransom, then you must have been sent here for another reason. If you don’t tell me what it is, you’ll stay in custody until you do.”

  Alex leaned forward. “The only mission I have is to bring your people back. And no, there isn’t a ransom. Do you want me to make things up?”

  “The wizard identified you as the person who killed his friends.”

  “Did he also tell you why they came to Eledon?” She leaned forward, her jaw clenched. “They came to kill my grandfather. I swore a bond of death to protect him and I’m still alive; my grandfather is still alive and they aren’t, except Ecstasy.”

  “Why not Ecstasy?”

  “My grandfather stopped me. He made Ecstasy swear to use his magic only for good.”

  “So, who’s your target now?”

  “I told you. I wasn’t sent here to kill anyone. I was sent here to give those sailors the counter-potion, that’s all.” She glared at him.

  “Tell the truth, Alex.” Tyler leaned closer.

  Alex fell back in the chair. “I told you the truth.”

  “Don’t make this difficult on yourself. If you tell the truth, the law will go much easier on you.”

  Alex glared at him. “If your law depends on lies, then it isn’t very good.” She crossed her arms.

  “This is your final warning. Tell me everything, now.”

  “I already told you everything!” Alex’s eyes narrowed. “And you call me Lady Dumwalt from now on!”

  Tyler stood up abruptly and left the room, taking the yellow pad of paper with him. The door locked behind him, leaving Alex inside to stew.

  As she did, she remembered the interrogation techniques she was taught when she learned to be a tracker. They were designed to press a subject into making a mistake. She went over her answers in her head and knew she shouldn’t have admitted to killing the wizards. But it was in self-defense. They attacked first. She was so upset she didn’t
have time to think about anything else before the Inspector returned. He turned on the telly with a push on the remote.

  “This is the recording of Ecstasy’s interview. I want you to listen to it,” he said.

  The black picture came to life as Ecstasy detailed the fight Alex had with his wizard friends and the strange blue light that came from her hand. He broke down and cried; his head down on the table. He raised his head to wail and covered his face. To Alex, it sounded like an act, not convincing at all. Tyler stopped it.

  “What’s this blue light he’s talking about?”

  Alex stared at him and shrugged.

  He pointed to the monitor. “Tell me about this blue light.”

  Alex stared away, fuming.

  “Let me see your hands.” He pulled her hands to him and looked at her palms. Although he saw nothing unusual, he rubbed them hard. “How does this blue light come out? Where is it?” He glared at her.

  Alex glared back and said nothing, but he was hurting her hands.

  “You’re only making this difficult on yourself. Answer me!”

  “It just comes out!” Angrily, she pulled her hands away.

  “I don’t believe you. Show me.” He waved his left hand in the air. Two of his fingers were taped together.

  Alex pointed to it. “What happened to your hand?”

  “It’s nothing—a broken finger.”

  “Let me see it.”

  “What for?”

  “You said you wanted to see the blue light. So, let me see your hand.” She cradled his left hand in her right. She closed her eyes and said, “Heal” in Elfspeak so he couldn’t hear her. A soft blue light glowed.

  His hand got warm and the warmth traveled up his arm; he jerked his hand away. “What are you doing?”

  “Move your fingers.”

  “What did you do?” He removed the bandage.

  “I fixed it.” Alex grinned. “So there, now you’ve seen my blue light. Are you happy now?” Her smile grew broader. “I really have to leave.”

  He flexed his left hand and stared at it. “Did you kill Ecstasy’s friends with this light?”

  Alex stared at him coldly. “As you can see, the light can heal.”

  “Who were you going to kill this time?”

  She sighed. “I told you—no one. I was to give the counter-potion, go home, and bring back more sailors and do the same thing again until they’re all here.” She slammed her fist on the table. “I’m not lying!”

  Tyler forced a smile and held up his hands. “All right, I’ve heard enough. I have to talk to the Admiral.” He stood up and took his pad of paper. “Come with me.” He jerked his head to the side.

  Alex followed him, happy for this interrogation to be over, but she planned to give Ecstasy a piece of her mind the next time she saw him.

  Chapter 12

  OPERATION LOCKDOWN

  Detective Inspector Tyler led Alex down the hall to Admiral Collins’ office. He’d exhausted every line of questioning during the interrogation and felt drained. He opened the door and held it for her as she stepped in. Her clear blue eyes followed his every move. This girl was not one to be trifled with, which was exactly what the Admiral intended to do. Tyler dreaded taking her in to see him but told her to sit on a sofa and knocked on the door.

  “Enter. Ah, Tyler, it’s about time. What took you so long?” Admiral Collins saw Alex sitting on the sofa through the door and said to him, “Close the door.”

  Tyler closed it and stepped closer. Across the room, he noted Detective Sergeant Pennington standing next to two large Marines. He nodded to her and turned back to face the Admiral. “Admiral, she adamantly denies being on any mission other than to give the counter-potion to the sailors to make them large again. I have no grounds on which to arrest her.”

  “Bollocks!”

  “When I pressed her, she became angry and told me to call her, Lady Dumwalt, instead of her first name.”

  “Captain Jonas, tell the Inspector about her.”

  Captain Jonas nodded. “This young woman is a trained assassin and a tracker, a black ops soldier. She’s killed dozens of men.”

  “She admitted as much, but I can’t arrest her for being a soldier or I’d have to arrest you and the Admiral. Based on what I’ve heard, she’s done nothing illegal. She may be delusional to think she has royal blood or that she’s part Elf, but it isn’t a crime. We have no grounds to hold her—we can’t even hold her for illegal entry into the country without revealing how our men returned. This knife is hardly a deadly weapon—it’s an eating knife, for Christ’s sake.”

  “It could be in her hands. Why would anyone send a trained operative to administer a counter-potion, a task that could be completed by any numbskull? I even volunteered.” Jonas pointed to his chest.

  “We can’t hold anyone based on their potential for violence. If we hold her any longer, she has a legitimate complaint against us. We could be sued for millions,” Tyler said.

  “Hold on.” The Admiral raised his hand. “Delusional? We can hold her for a mental evaluation. That could take months.” He rubbed his hands together. “Then we could use her as ransom to get the rest of the sailors back. I can send a message back with that wizard fellow.”

  “Shouldn’t we hold him as well, Admiral? He’s just as delusional.”

  “This has nothing to do with anyone’s mental condition, Tyler. We need to hold her to make sure we get our men back. This ‘wizard’ will take our message back.” He used his hands to put air quotes around the word, wizard. “Have you found out his real name?”

  “No.”

  “Well, have someone keep an eye on him.”

  “I can’t support this, Admiral.” Tyler shook his head.

  “I’m not asking you to. Captain Wells, stand by. Detective Sergeant Pennington, thank you for bringing this to my attention.”

  Tyler turned to Pennington. “Did you get anything back on those names I gave you?”

  “Yes. Ebony Shorter was in a yacht race and was reported missing at sea; Olivia Richards was a famous journalist who also disappeared at sea, and Major Able Penser has been missing since 1968 from the Vietnam War.”

  “So, it’s true?” Tyler’s mouth went dry. “Wait, Admiral. If she’s telling the truth…”

  “Bring her in.” The Admiral clenched his jaw and nodded to the Marines.

  ***

  Alex stared at the closed door, feeling something was wrong. She wanted to leave, but didn’t know where to go. Then Tyler opened the door and waved her inside. Once she passed him, he closed the door behind her.

  Alex paused; her skin crawled—Detective Sergeant Pennington stood next to Captain Wells, the Marine soldier from the coach. He stood with another man in the same uniform who was taller than the Captain. Pennington had a smug expression on her face as if she knew something no one else did. Nothing good can come from this. Behind Alex, Captain Jonas stood next to Inspector Tyler, blocking the door she’d just came through. She was boxed in. Immediately, sweat formed on her forehead and her heart rate increased. She glanced nervously at the people in the room and the walls closed in on her.

  “Lady Dumwalt.” Admiral Collins stood up and bowed slightly. “Please come in and sit down.” He waved her to a chair and sat on the corner of his desk. “You’ve had quite a trying day. I must admit that we have an issue with you and your story. D.I. Tyler assures me that his interview with you went well and you don’t pose a threat to our national security. I find that to be a great relief. However, I do find your claims of royal blood and an Elf to be delusional, a product of an overactive imagination. In combination with your reputation for violence, it leads me to believe that you must be referred for a mental evaluation.”

  What? She narrowed her eyes, uncertain what he meant, but it didn’t sound right. A mental evaluation? She stared at Tyler and then back at the Admiral. “What do you mean?”

  “We’re going to send you to a clinic where you’ll be examined by a
psychologist.” The Admiral waved his hand at the men in camouflage uniforms and they snapped to attention.

  Alex leapt from her chair with clenched fists. “Where’s Ecstasy? I want to leave.”

  The Admiral threw his arms out to the side as he stood up. “I can’t release you! How can I? There’s no such thing as Elves and your father isn’t a count. I don’t know what you’re doing, but you need help, young lady.”

  “Captain Jonas was there. Tell him, Captain.” Alex glared at Jonas, who said nothing. Alex put her hands on her hips. “Where’s Ecstasy?”

  “No, my lady, I’m terribly sorry. We’ll send you to one the finest clinics in the world. When you’re better, you’ll be released.”

  “I’m not going anywhere!”

  The Admiral pointed at her. “You may be considered a lady in your make-believe world, but you have no special privileges here. You will go with these Marines, if you know what’s good for you. Captain Wells, take her.” He waved his hand at the young officer.

  Captain Wells stepped forward and grabbed her left arm—Alex tried to twist away but he had a firm grip on her. The other Marine forced her right arm behind her back, slapping a set of metal handcuffs on her.

  When she heard the clicks, she pulled her arms around and stared at the silver cuffs on her wrists. “What are these?” Enraged, she glared at the man whose name Donaldson was boldly written across his chest. The stripes on his sleeve indicated his rank was sergeant.

  “Handcuffs. The harder you pull, the tighter they’ll get.” Sergeant Donaldson grinned and pulled her to the door by the cuffs.

  Alex fumed. The man was much stronger than she was. Besides, there were two of them. She tripped over her own feet on purpose to throw him off-balance. Then she spun and kicked him in the balls. He screamed and doubled over in pain. For good measure, she kicked him in the chest, knocking him backward into Captain Wells.

  “Gorian!” Alex used the Dwarf spell to unlock the handcuffs and stepped through the door, pulling it shut. Then she waved her hand at the door and locked it, using the same spell. The handcuffs fell to the floor and she kicked them away as she marched down the hall, furious, but uncertain which way to go.